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Brunnette Qualifies for New England’s at State Meet

THETFORD–This year's State Meet had the best running conditions in 4 years with dry trails, temps in the 50s and a bank of fog that didn't lift until the girls challenge race. The Division I girls varsity race started off the day, and NCU was running with a depleted squad. We were missing our #2 and #3 runners due to season ending injuries earlier in the month. Haley Jo Tetreault was not at 100% for the day's race, but she worked though the race finishing 23rd in Div I (34th in the State). Junior Jade Dandurand was our second scorer with her best time at Thetford in 25:04. Our remaining scoring girls were senior Anne Arcoleo, and sophomores Maggie Stuart and Rebekah Young to put us 12th in Div I and 22nd overall in the State. On the boys side, the goal was to get to New England's, but we knew it would be a tough task due to the strength of a number of teams in the State. Going into the meet, most schools did not consider us a threat especially with 4 out of our top 7 racers being sophomores. The race was fast and intense throughout, and the first NCU runner across the line was Sam Brunnette in 16th with a blazing fast time of 18:01. Right on his heels in 17th 3 seconds back was Alex Cotnoir. Andrew Franklin would be the third for NCU, but not before injuring his calf in the last 300m of the race. Realizing what was at stake for him and the team, Andrew gutted out the last portion of the race showing serious race maturity considering he raced JV last year. Ross DeLaBruere was 4th for NCU putting 4 guys in under 19 minutes for 5K. Patrick Tetreault had an up and down season, but nailed a great race for him at Thetford coming across the line just over the 19 minute mark (19:08). Senior Brian DeLaBruere was within sight of him for the 6th spot. Next, NCU needed to sit and wait to determine their NE's fate. As the results started coming out, and the math was done to calculate individual and team placements across three divisions, NCU would learn their fate. We finished 6th in Div I, but 7th in the State leaving us out of the NE meet by 18 pts. As the individual tally took place to determine the top 25, sophomore Sam Brunnette took the 25th spot in the State qualifying him for the New England's Meet at Twin Brook Recreation Center, Cumberland ME on Nov 10. Sadly, this led us to realize that Alex Cotnoir was in the worst placement of 26th in the State leaving him off of the roster. This is pretty amazing considering that 2 months prior, Alex had not raced a 5K and he was working off of an injured ankle through most of the season. Now Sam will get ready for his next challenge, New England’s.